Long ago, when I still got excited about movies, my grandfather introduced me to “The Great Escape” – a World War II dramatization of an actual escape of British air force officers from a nazi POW camp. The filmmakers added in some American characters (and actors) to try and market it better, but by and large, it’s a good film with several memorable scenes.
One of those came to mind earlier tonight for me. One of the senior British officers (the one who got to approve all escape attempts and also the guy organizing the eponymous great escape of 250 POWs with the intent of causing havoc behind enemy lines) and his second in command just learned of a crackpot guy’s plan to slip out through the wire the next night and make a run for it. After some odd looks, the following conversation took place:
MacDonald: “Why didn’t anyone think of that before? It’s so stupid, it’s positively brilliant! Oh, but it’ll bring every goon in the camp down on top of us!”
Bartlett: “I don’t know. Perhaps we’re being too clever. If we stop all the breakouts, it will only convince the goons we must be tunneling.”
It occurred to me that by cutting my darker posts on facebook and elsewhere down to zero (on account of 95% or more of them being here instead), that I, too, might be at risk of being “too clever” as it were. But now I have to figure out how to correct that and make it seem down enough to be “normal” while also not betraying that something more is going on.
Apparently even when I’m trying to just maintain the appearance of the status quo, I can’t help but overcomplicate things.
Living Undead 